EC motor assembly

Abstract

The present invention relates to an EC motor assembly ( 1 ) having an electronically commutated, permanent magnet-excited DC motor (M) with an upstream commutation electronic unit ( 2 ) that is supplied with a DC link voltage (U ZK ) via a DC link ( 8 ). The DC link ( 8 ) can be connected directly to a solar cell generator ( 12 ) via a first voltage input ( 10 ) on one hand, and on the other, to a grid voltage (U M ) via a controllable power supply unit ( 14 ) and a second voltage input ( 16 ). The DC link voltage (U ZK ) is variably specified based on a respective available photovoltaic voltage (U PV ) of the solar cell generator ( 12 ). The power supply unit ( 14 ) can be regulated with respect to the output voltage thereof to adapt to the respective DC link voltage (U ZK ).

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An EC motor assembly ( 1 ), comprising an electronically commutated, permanent magnet-excited DC motor (M) with an upstream commutation electronic unit ( 2 ) that is supplied with a DC link voltage (U ZK ) via a DC link ( 8 ), wherein the DC link ( 8 ) can be connected directly to a solar cell generator ( 12 ) via a first voltage input ( 10 ) and via a controllable power supply ( 14 ) and a second voltage input ( 16 ) to a grid voltage (U M ), the DC link voltage (U ZK ) being variably based on a respective photovoltaic voltage (U PV ) available from the solar cell generator ( 12 ), and the output voltage of the power supply ( 14 ) being regulated via an MPP regulator ( 18 ) to draw as much power as possible from the solar cell generator ( 12 ) by specifying a motor operating point (AP) with a rotational speed target value (n soll ) and during variations of photovoltaic parameters, being adapted via the commutation electronic unit ( 2 ) in such a manner that the motor rotational speed is maintained near the target value (n soll ). 
     
     
       2. The EC motor assembly according to  claim 1 , further comprising in that, when the photovoltaic voltage (U PV ) is completely absent or falls below a defined limit value approaching zero, a predetermined value (U ZKmin ) that is still sufficient to operate the motor (M) is adjusted for the DC link voltage (U ZK ) by means of the power supply ( 14 ). 
     
     
       3. An EC motor assembly according to  claim 1  further comprising in that the commutation electronics unit ( 2 ) comprises a power output stage ( 4 ) and an associated control unit ( 6 ) with speed regulation. 
     
     
       4. An EC motor assembly according to  claim 1  further comprising in that the commutation electronics unit ( 2 ), together with the power supply ( 14 ), and the MPP regulator ( 18 ), forms an electronic unit, which is arranged on at least one common circuit board and integrated into a motor housing. 
     
     
       5. An EC motor assembly according to  claim 1  further comprising in that the DC link ( 8 ) contains a DC link capacitor (C ZK ). 
     
     
       6. An EC motor assembly according to  claim 1  further comprising in that the power supply ( 14 ) is an AC/DC switching power supply with an integrated voltage regulator ( 20 ).